Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, February 12, 2014 - Page 31
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Observer Showbiz Every Week in the Melbourne Observer
Radio: Smooth 91.5’s CD goes No 1 ....................... Page 32 Tribut e: Passing of Maximilian Schel ......................... Page 33 ribute: Country Music: Rob Foenander’s column .................... Page 32 Jim and Aaron: Philip Seymour Hoffman profile ............ Page 36 Cheryl Threadgold: Local theatre, news, people ................. Page 37 PL US THE LLO OVATT”S MEGA CRO PLUS CROSS SWORD
VALE STEPHANIE DANIEL Ian Moss at Festival
● Ian Moss will perform in the 2014 Riverboats Music Festival, February 14-16. Mor details on Page 33.
Sad loss of legend
● Observer columnist Aaron Rourke pays tribute to Philip Symour Hoffman. Turn to Page 36.
By JULIE HOUGHTON
● Stephanie Daniel ■ Lovers of audio books lost one of their finest storytellers when actor Stephanie Daniel died of cancer on December 30. In recent years, she found great fame as the voice of Phryne Fisher and all the other characters in Kerry Greenwood's hugely successful series of books about the 1920s elegant Melbourne super sleuth, the Honourable Phyrne Fisher, on which the hit ABC TV series are based. Stephanie trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London on leaving school, before working in repertory around England. She toured Austria in 1970 with a Shakespeare for schools project, before moving to Munich in 1971 to work on dubbing European films into English. She had a small role in Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory, and was the make-up and camera double for Liza Minnelli in Cabaret. Having met partner David Mann in 1972, she moved with him to the UK in 1976 and then to Montreal in 1980. David quipped that actors and engineers are not normal pairings, but Stephanie and David's love affair lasted more than 40 years until her death. Stephanie worked in theatre in Montreal where their daughter Emma was born in 1982, and a move to Melbourne followed in 1984, which led to roles in Neighbours and a part in the Australian classic film The Castle. Stephanie continued her voice over work, setting up her own business recording children's stories written by Australian and New Zealand authors (Children's Talking Books), because previously all children's stories were recorded in American English. Stephanie was known for her one woman play on Jane Austen, An Uneventful Life which she wrote and performed. She was a professional narrator and voice actor for Vision Australia, CBM and Bolinda Books. She became the Artistic Director of Beleura House and Garden in Mornington and rejuvenated Philip Island's Offshore Theatre, where she lived, and directed an acting course and the annual concert at the University of the Third Age. Just before she died, she learned that she was to receive the 2014 Bass Coast Arts and Cultural Ambassador Award on Australia Day. In her absence, partner David and daughter Emma accepted the award. I first saw Stephanie Daniel in her wonderful play about Jane Austen, which brought the spirit and the words of the great author to life with charm and precision. Turn to Page 33
Madness Of The Day
● John Flaus in The Madness Of The Day at La Mama Theatre. Photo: Oscar Strangio ■ Enter the eerie atmosphere that’s been created at La Mama Theatre this week for The Madness Of The Day. You will sit behind an invisible wall and watch as a man rediscovers his bare and unusual surroundings, his isolation, and his ageing self. This production provides the best of theatre: an intriguing setting, an absorbing character, a sense of how very real it all is, and an invitation for the audience to ponder and discover, too. Director and co-devisor Laurence Strangio describes The Madness Of The Day as a contemplation of French writer, philosopher, and literary theorist Maurice Blanchot’s La Folie Du Jour. Blanchot’s fiction offers a paradox. Under duress, the narrator is challenged to tell a story that both expresses the limitlessness of experience but affirms its limits in order to be narrated, Read Leslie Hill’s Blanchot, Extreme Contemporary for a fantastic dissection. The resulting narration seems mad, frequently changing course and marked throughout with discontinuities. Skilfully and sensitively, Strangio’s play underlines these themes of limits, limitlessness, and seemingly mad disruption with a single actor in an enclosed and intimate space. The man is limited by a lack of memory and an inability to escape physically from his room but is nevertheless unrestrained by his limitless imagination. This is not a passive experience for audiences. The first 15 or so minutes are completely silent, full of subtext that draws viewers in to interpret and feel for themselves. Actor and co-devisor John Flaus gives a captivating performance from lights up, with many subtleties of emotion expressed in his actions, making him great to watch. The moments where Flaus’s character begins to really interact with the piece of writing he discovers in his room are just fantastic. What a pity it takes so long to happen as the play does sag a little in the middle. However, Flaus’s charm and Strangio’s beautiful direction averts any disappointment. The transformation of La Mama’s theatre space and the creation of a creepy room are a real credit to designer and co-devisor Meg White, aided by equally creepy lighting by J.B. Knibbs and Paul Jackson. The Madness Of The Day is playing until February 16 and is highly recommended. Performance Season: Until 16 February Times: Wed, Sun 6:30pm; Thurs, Fri, Sat 7:30pm Venue: La Mama Theatre, 205 Faraday St Carlton Bookings: www.lamama.com.au or 9347 6948 - Deborah Marinaro